We said goodbye to Amsterdam and proceeded to Schipol Airport with great trepidation. After having four previous sets of reservations cancelled without notice, we were not counting on anything.
But, we were hopeful. We had to be. Another setback was inconceivable.
Our itinerary was not ideal, but we were happy to have boarding passes in hand with Boston, Massachusetts as the final destination. During our evening flight from Amsterdam to Lisbon we watched a long, slow, glowing sunset outside our window and the full moon rise across the aisle. That seemed to bode well for us.
The 3-hour flight was a bit more crowded than I would have liked, but we wiped down the surfaces around us, wore our masks, and kept our distance from others as much as possible.
We had a 21-hour layover in Lisbon, which we mostly spent in an airport hotel. Due to the pandemic only Americans were allowed into the United States, so our plane to Boston held few passengers. That suited us just fine. We had plenty of fresh air and room to spread out.
We did, however, have one more thing to worry about after deplaning. That was the fact that we had overstayed our 90-day non-visa time allowance in the European Union by nearly two months. We were prepared to answer questions at the immigration desk, but none were asked. We breezed through in less than two minutes.
We were finally back on American soil, but our mission was not yet complete. HaRVy was still on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. We would not be able to pick him up for nearly three weeks.
Home Sweet Home. We were happy to find everything pretty much in order at our house. We spent our mandatory 14-day quarantine period stocking our pantry (via deliveries and curbside pickups only), pulling lots of weeds, and generally getting settled back in. Nothing ever felt better than that first night back in our own bed!
Once our quarantine period ended, I couldn’t wait to visit my favorite beach in Middletown, RI. We spent a quintessential New England afternoon/early evening complete with lobster rolls for dinner. The fact that we got to spend it with good friends Janne and Jim, socially distanced of course, was a bonus!
Word finally arrived that HaRVy was ready to be picked up at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland. We took a brief early morning flight and were onboard our van again before noon.
We pointed HaRVy north and headed home. We were not in the mood for any more adventures.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED and our odyssey is officially over. Can you hear my huge sigh of relief?
Thank you for following my blog. This might be my last post ever.